He said: “The first time I heard her sing she was three years old, lying on
her bed with a hairbrush for a microphone.

“Then, when she was seven, I heard her singing with our neighbour and I was
amazed. She was doing the Aladdin song A Whole New World — it was so pretty
I couldn’t believe it.”

He added: “I made sure she went to school and did well. She liked to dance and
had natural rhythm but she wasn’t doing all the school productions and
stuff. So her success came a bit out of the blue.”

Her rise to fame began when she was just 15. She won a school talent pageant
then was introduced to American producer Evan Rogers, who was on holiday in
Barbados. He signed her up before landing her a deal with Jay-Z.

Ronald adds proudly: “She was the youngest girl to take part in a talent
pageant at her high school. All the other girls were 17, but she won.
Shortly afterwards she was discovered and the rest is history.”

Rihanna’s career really took off with 2007 song Umbrella, the UK No1 for ten
weeks.

And earlier this month, the star, who now lives in a 12-bedroom mansion in the
LA hills, became the first female solo artist to get UK No1 singles in five
consecutive years.

Ronald always assumed his girl would go into business due to her
entrepreneurial flair as a kid.

He revealed: “She used to sell stuff on the side of the street like I did.
She’d come outside of the store and put up a rack and sell hats and belts
and scarves.

“She would also buy sweets, put them in packages and take them to school to
sell to her friends for a profit.”

Ronald’s marriage to Rihanna’s mum, Monica Fenty, crumbled when she was young
and they divorced when their daughter was 14. Although he moved out of the
family home he remained a part of Rihanna’s life.

Then, two years ago, he fell out with her when she sent him home from her
North American tour as punishment for drunken behaviour on her bus.

He said: “I got drunk and had an argument with her brother. There was one
night of the tour left in Los Angeles — and I wanted to go there because I
know a nice lady in LA — but she made me go home. But families row — it’s
all fine now.”

He added: “I don’t get to see her too often. When she comes to Barbados it’s
normally just a couple of days and she has so many people to see.”

Despite Rihanna’s wealth and generosity, Ronald works hard designing and
selling clothes, which he flogs from his car.

And sipping a Banks beer after another day’s graft, he boasted: “Her mum says
Robyn takes after her but I know the singing is definitely from me. My mum
and dad sing but it skipped a generation with me.

“Robyn has special charisma. She’s charming, smart and witty — she’s a
complete package. They didn’t have to do anything to her. She didn’t have to
get no fake boobs or nothing.

Ronald has been on tour with his daughter, 22, three times. It has given him a
taste of the celebrity lifestyle — but he insisted she has not been spoiled
by fame.

He said: “These celebrities live in a different world. They get whatever they
want given to them on a plate. But Robyn’s not like that — she still likes
her chicken and boiled eggs.”

And on her rapper ex-boyfriend Chris Brown, who famously attacked the singer
leaving her battered and bruised in 2009, he said: “It was really tough
seeing the pictures of her beaten up.

“But I have forgiven him. He has lost so much from one stupid mistake. So me
making him feel even worse makes no sense. I feel sorry for him now.”

There, Rihanna’s childhood best pal Shakira Pilgrim still lives with her mum
and two-year-old daughter Elisha.

Everyone on the street has stories about how Rihanna and Shakira were
inseparable.

“That’s Robyn’s goddaughter over there,” said Dawn. “Robyn and her mother
Shakira were like sisters. But Shakira is not around right now. She’s
working in the call centre today and will be out with her baby’s daddy
later.”

Ronald says he kicked drugs for his family.

He told The Sun: “I did have a drug problem and Robyn did walk in and see me
taking drugs in our house. She was just a little kid and it made her look at
me, and other things, differently.

“Around the same time we were walking down the street with the kids and there
was a guy sleeping on the sidewalk. Her mother said to Robyn, ‘Your dad is
going to end up like that’.

“I did not want my children to see me sleeping on the sidewalk so I started
making the changes.

“I had to give up drugs for my family. I still kind of lost them, I split up
with my wife. But I still had to do it for myself and eventually I beat it.”

At his worst, Rihanna’s dad was labelled a “parrow” — the local slang for
scrounging junkie — by the Caribbean islanders.

“But that was a long time ago. It’s all in my past now — touch wood,” he
says.